When we talk about “set pieces” in relationship to cinema, we often think of a jaw-dropping, computer-assisted visual sugar rush that is primed to leave the audience banjaxed with a sense of breathless awe. In Ryusuke Hamaguchi’s tremendously beautiful and wise new...
In a 2023 interview, Liam Neeson, who played Jedi Master Qui-Gon Jin in The Phantom Menace, chalked up his disillusionment with the ever-expanding number of Star Wars offshoots to their insistence on contorting themselves to the confines of television. “I’m a bit of...
Within a short time of being introduced to the budding kabuki performer at the centre of Lee Sang-il’s hit Japanese film Kokuho, a character cuttingly offers an observation about his trajectory: “Your beautiful face might consume you.” These words, paired with the...
It’s very rare that you catch a sighting of the c‑word in these august pages, but its usage is warranted in reference to one of the interviewees in Orban Wallace’s superb documentary Our Land, which examines the idea of the public’s...
Romy keeps fantasising about Samuel, and it’s implied that BDSM now plays some role in her marriage. But, as in many erotic films, the threat posed by desire is eventually smoothed over and neutralised. Her life returns to normal, and...
“The June 1967 defeat was tantamount to an alarm bell that aroused the dormant Arab consciousness from its long slumber; it awakened the Arabs from their dreaming, shaking their faith in all the nationalistic slogans and bringing into question the...
Cosy crime gets a CGI spit-shine in Kyle Balda’s likable screen adaptation of Leonie Swann’s 2005 novel ‘Three Bags Full’. First we’ll address a couple of little FAQs: No, it’s not a film about detectives searching for missing or murdered sheep; Yes, it...
On Truth & Movies this week, we discuss Mark Jenkin’s Rose Of Nevada and David Lowery’s Mother Mary. For Film Club, we revisit Brady Corbet’s Vox Lux.Joining host Leila Latif are Hannah Strong and Rafa Sales Ross. Truth & Movies...
Forget all the bad stuff you ever knew about Michael Jackson. Wipe it from your mind. If you happen to be thinking back to the tabloid circus, the PR own-goals and all those eccentric court appearances where he was turning...
Like boarding a flight for somewhere promising, only to be met with an emergency landing, Departures never quite reaches the emotional depth it sets out for. This collaboration between filmmaking duo Lloyd Eyre-Morgan and Neil Ely begins at the end, retelling its...
